Today I’m featuring the creative work of Mermaid Charms.  This is a perfect example of how leaving comments on my posts, telling me how much you love my blog on Twitter and having a fabulous product can get you featured here.  I really love to pull creative chick features from our readership.  I met this darling creative chick via Twitter (@mermaidcharms) – she was saying something totally sweet about loving CreatedByChicks.com.  She also left a comment cheerleading something I featured.  I decided to check out her site and WOW!  I just LOVED everything I saw.  I knew I’d have to share her sea glass handmade jewelry creations with the creative little world who follows this blog.

Here’s some of my very favorite designs (click on the pic to be redirected to her store):

Bubbles Under the Sea Earrings – $36.00

The Weston Sea Glass Necklace – $79.00

Winter Wonderland Dangle Earrings – $49.00

The Aqua Lariat – $124.00

Joy Love and Happiness PMC (precious metal clay) Bracelet – $79.00

I’ve never really attached myself to the sea before.  I’ve lived most of my life very far inland and have only visited the ocean on a few rare occasions.  However, I’m falling in love with the simple sweetness these sea-inspired handmade jewelry designs have.  My good friend, Vanessa, loves the ocean and it really fits her.  I bet she’d love these designs.  My other sweet friend, Emily, is from California and I bet she’d love these, too.  Honestly, maybe what I’m falling in love with is how these oceanic pieces remind me of things I love about these two friends.  Also, my family is still under major financial turmoil (DH is still on the job hunt) so maybe I’m craving the peaceful serenity of warm beaches with the sounds of the waves and birds in the background.

Whatever the reason, I love these designs!  Isn’t the Aqua Lariat Necklace sooooo gorgeous worn with that blue tank underneath?!  Ooh, la, la.  I love it.  I dig that look; it’s simple, classy and sweet.  Thanks, Mermaid Charms!!!

And speaking of seeking peaceful serenity, I’m certain we’re all praying for the people of Haiti right now.  If there’s anything they could use, it’s that.  Some good posts that outline ways to help: You Too Can Support the Relief Efforts in Haiti, Haiti Earthquake and Got Donations? Here’s how to help Haiti.  We can all take a moment today to thank God for the abundance in our lives and to pray for all those in Haiti who are in need – hearts strung together in love and unity.

Well, I’m still a little out-of-breath trying to keep up with my New Year’s Resolutions.  Also, returning from the holiday break back to real life has been a BIG shock and I’m struggling to get back on track, thus why I don’t have a “Who’s Creating? Wednesday” feature today… I’m so sorry. 

However, I thought I could take today to write about all my New Year’s Resolutions madness because I’m sure you’re all dying to hear about it (lol, probably not, but writing down what I’m doing will help keep me stay accountable to continue).

Ok, here’s the basic run-down of my New Year’s Resolutions:

• get fit and healthy
• get and stay organized
• take better care of my housework
• ditch refined sugar for good

In line with this, my word of the year is “abundance.” I want to focus on all the abundance in my life and strive to live in a near-constant state of gratitude.  Honestly, I am overwhelmed with how blessed I am.  If I was homeless but still had my husband and three children I would still consider myself blessed beyond what I deserve.  Our family (as many families in America are going through) has been in really difficult financial turmoil for the past two years.  It’s been very stressful, but a lot of blessing have come from it, especially that of me finally having the courage to take my entrepreneurial dreams and act on them.  This month we’re particularly stressed, though, as my husband’s work contract is ending and he’s joined the masses in search of a job.  He’s applied for a lot of good ones, so we know good, well-paying jobs are out there, but we have no reason to suspect that he’s being considered for any of them yet.  Every day we hope we’ll hear the phone ring to call him to an interview.  Soooo…. we’re “livin’ on a prayer” and trying to replace our fear with faith.  By focusing on “abundance” in our life I feel much more peaceful about our situation and know that no matter what happens, it will be the Lord’s will and we will be okay.

During the Christmas break, my husband and I went through all the toys in our family room and pulled out the ones the kids don’t play with and threw away the broken-beyond-repair toys.  Then my husband built some great shelves in our big family room closet and we snagged baskets from all over the house and organized all the toys so that the kids just pull out a basket of toys and then have to clean it up before getting out a new one.  I thought we’d have to get childproof locks on the closet doors to get this to work, but so far it’s being going great without them!  Our family room was always the messiest room in the whole house and now it’s staying really tidy… heaven!

To keep myself on track with all my goals, I’ve put together a pretty tight schedule for my weekdays.  Here’s a basic rundown:

• 5am – wake up, grab a snack, exercise and then go shower and get ready for the day
• 6-7:30am – check and respond to emails and write blog post(s) for the day while my kids are starting to wake up
• 7:30am – start cooking breakfast for the kids
• 8am – serve and eat breakfast, get kids ready for the day (bathed and dressed)
• 9am – art or learning time (I’m a BIG believer in the importance of kids being involved in art so we usually pull out the paints, crayons, markers, etc. and get creative for a bit together while listening to fun music like Jack Johnson’s Curious George Soundtrack)
• 10am – housework time (each day rotates as to what housework I do during this time covering laundry, cleaning bathrooms, mopping floors and vacuuming)
• 11am – prepare and serve lunch
• 12pm – put my 20 mo/old down for her nap and then get my older kids involved in some sort of quiet time activity and then I can get to work on design projects and all the other work I have to do
• 3pm – 20 mo/old wakes up from nap and we have a snack, afterwards I play with my kids and we have fun together
• 4pm – start preparing dinner
• 5pm – serve and eat dinner
• 6pm – clean up the kitchen and then have family time
• 7pm – get kids ready for and into bed
• 8pm – get myself ready for and into bed -> detox time so that I can relax and read
• 9pm – asleep

Do you think I’m just crazy for mapping out my time like this?  Part of me wonders if this is really nuts, but so far it’s working really well.  It’s made me realize that I just don’t have masses of amounts of time to work like I had mistakenly believed before.  Also, when I go to bed at night I’m not stressed about all I didn’t get done because I just do the best with the time I’ve allotted things to take and have to plan better my work projects.

And just for a quick “woo-hoo!” moment I should mention that I have not ever been a person that exercises regularly… never.  In fact I “tested out” of gym class in middle school and high school (by taking golf and bowling lessons – can’t believe that actually worked) to get out of exercise because I hated it so much.  Now, however, it’s gotten to the point where I’ve got to take better care of myself.  So, for Christmas “Santa” brought me two Biggest Loser workout DVD’s that I’m using to stay on track.  I rotate each day between the “Boot Camp Workout” and the “Weight Loss Yoga” DVD and it’s AWESOME!!!  I’ve exercised NINE days in a row (minus resting on Sunday, of course)!  Woot!!!  This is a big record for me.

Also, my family is doing a Biggest Loser competition to get us all motivated to take our extra pounds off and get healthy.  We’re weighing in every week and have to put $1 into the pot for every pound we gain during the next 6 weeks (since the idea is to LOSE pounds).  I just can’t afford to gain any weight, lol.

So, next time you see me, your line is: “dang, girl!  You look amazing!  Have you been working out?” (yes, I do want you to ask even though you know I have been).

How are your New Year’s Resolutions coming?  Do you have a word of the year?  I’d love to hear about what you’re doing!